St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center

St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center Overview

St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center is at 1301 Bell Avenue in Fort Pierce. The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice runs it as a hardware-secure juvenile detention facility. It is not part of the adult inmate population system, and the Sheriff's jail roster does not cover it. A 2024 state audit identified the facility as state-operated and listed Dedilia Finlayson as the administrator at the time of that audit.

Who is held here? Youth detained primarily through the 19th Judicial Circuit area, held pending adjudication, disposition, or placement. In plain terms, these are young people whose cases are still moving through the juvenile court process. The facility sits on Bell Avenue near other detention sites, but it serves a separate purpose and a separate population from the county jail.

St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center Capacity

The facility's size is modest compared with the adult jail. A 2024 Department of Juvenile Justice audit listed a designated capacity of 50. An older state profile listed a higher operating capacity of 78, along with historical admission and utilization figures from the early 2000s. The newer 50-bed designated figure is the current number to rely on, with the older count used only as historical context.

A current daily population for the center was not published in the official sources reviewed, so this page does not estimate one. Treat the capacity figures as the documented bed counts, not a live head count. The older state profile also recorded heavy use in its time, with utilization near 77% and many hundreds of admissions and transfers in a single year, which signals that the center has long handled steady turnover rather than a fixed group.

How to Find a Youth at St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center

There is no public juvenile roster, and that is by design. Youth detained at the center are not searchable through the adult St. Lucie Sheriff jail roster, and no equivalent public lookup was located. Juvenile court and detention information is restricted compared with adult records. So the path to information runs through people with a legal role in the case, not through an online search box.

The contrast with the adult jail is sharp, and the table below shows why a juvenile search works differently.

If you reached this page looking for an adult, the jail inmate records page covers the Sheriff's roster, which is the right tool for adults.

St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center Address and Contact

Reach the facility through the Department of Juvenile Justice. For an active case, the assigned attorney, the juvenile court, or a juvenile probation officer is usually the better contact than a phone call to the center.

Why Juvenile Detention Records Are Restricted

Juvenile cases are handled with more privacy than adult cases. The goal is to protect young people while their cases are pending and to support placement and rehabilitation. That is why there is no public juvenile mugshot, no public youth roster, and no open online file like the adult jail roster. The detention center holds youth pending adjudication, disposition, or placement, and details about a specific young person stay within the case.

This protection shapes what a member of the public can learn. You will not find a youth here by typing a name into a website. A parent, guardian, or attorney with a role in the case is the person who can get current information. For anyone outside that circle, the records are simply not open the way an adult booking is.

The contrast with the adult side is worth stating plainly. The county jail publishes a booking photo for adults in custody, lists charges and bond on a public profile, and posts a five-day release report. None of that exists for detained youth. There is no public juvenile mugshot and no public youth charge listing. The closed nature of these records is the rule, not a gap in the system, and it reflects how Florida treats juvenile cases.

How Youth Move Through Juvenile Detention

Detention here is a stage, not a sentence. Youth are held pending adjudication, disposition, or placement, which are the juvenile-court versions of trial, outcome, and assignment. A young person may be held for a short period while the court reviews the case, then released, placed on supervision, or moved to a separate commitment program. The center itself is a secure holding facility, not a long-term commitment placement, so a stay here is meant to be brief.

The word secure has a specific meaning. A hardware-secure facility uses locked doors and physical controls to keep youth in custody, much as a jail does for adults, but the program and rules are built for minors. The aim leans toward review, safety, and placement rather than punishment, which is part of why the records stay closed to the public.

The center serves a region, not just one city. An older state profile listed it as serving St. Lucie and nearby counties, including Indian River, Martin, and Okeechobee, which share the same judicial circuit. That profile also gave historical figures from the early 2000s, with an average daily population near 60, utilization around 77%, and well over a thousand admissions in a single year. Those numbers are dated and serve only as background, not as a current count.

Visiting and Contacting a Detained Youth

The center follows Department of Juvenile Justice rules, which differ from county jail visitation. A detailed public visiting schedule and mail format for this facility were not located in the official sources reviewed, and because youth detention is sensitive, this page does not invent adult-jail style rules for it. The reliable step is to contact the facility or the Department of Juvenile Justice for current visiting, mail, and call procedures tied to a specific youth.

Families should expect approval steps and limits that reflect the youth's case and placement. An attorney or juvenile probation officer can explain what visits and contact are allowed at a given stage. Treat the facility phone number as a starting point for those questions, not as a custody-lookup line.

If you are unsure where to begin, work outward from the case. Start with the assigned attorney or public defender, who can speak to status and visits. Add the juvenile probation officer for placement and supervision questions. Use the court for hearing dates. The Department of Juvenile Justice can explain facility rules. This chain replaces the single online lookup that adults rely on, and it exists because the youth's privacy comes first.

About St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center

The center is one of three detention sites in the county, and it is the only one for youth. An older state profile described it as serving St. Lucie and nearby counties, with youth detained pending adjudication, disposition, or placement in a commitment facility. It is physically close to the Fort Pierce Community Release Center on Bell Avenue, but the two are different systems for different groups. The juvenile center is run by the Department of Juvenile Justice, while the St. Lucie County Jail is run by the Sheriff for adults. Because youth records carry strong confidentiality rules, the center should never be treated as a public inmate-search facility.